New Madison Hospital set to open Feb. 28 (video)

MADISON, Alabama -- After nearly a decade of trying to bring a hospital to Alabama's fastest-growing city, Madison is only three weeks away from realizing that dream.

On Feb. 28, at 7 a.m., the 60-bed, $70 million Madison Hospital will open for business.

A 30-foot water wall inside a spacious atrium will awe visitors and patients; most of them will come from a 10-mile radius in western portions of Madison County, eastern Limestone and Morgan counties, and southern Tennessee.

"I think the people of Madison will be very pleased," said Madison Hospital President Mary Lynne Wright, who holds a nursing degree and a master's degree in management. "It doesn't look like a typical hospital."

Wright and Huntsville Hospital Health System CEO David Spillers led local media on a sneak-peek tour Monday morning of the five-story structure that faces U.S. 72 west between Wall Triana Highway and Balch Road.

The hospital will offer most types of care, including a 24/7 emergency room, imaging, labor and delivery, and surgical intensive care with five operating rooms. The hospital won't offer major trauma treatment, heart and other specialty surgeries or a neo-natal intensive care unit.

The 240,000-square-foot building, which is in the flight path for the Huntsville-Madison County International Airport, can never be higher than five stories, said Wright.

However, there is room for expansion on the 28-acre campus, which includes a healing garden and labyrinth now under construction. The weather has delayed work on some of the hospital's landscaping features, which may not be complete by the end of the month.

"If it would just stop raining, we could get finished," said Wright. "We are still hoping it will be ready in time."

The earth-tone colors throughout the building are designed to provide a calming atmosphere for patients and visitors, said Wright.

While it may be a "small" hospital compared to its big sister, Huntsville Hospital, it will be among the most modern in North Alabama, with computers and high-tech equipment in every area, hospital officials say. Alcoves with computer hook-ups for every two rooms will allow nurses and other staff to spend more time caring for patients than returning to a nurse's station to fill out information on a main computer.

Operating rooms, normally about 480 square feet, are 600 square feet to accommodate any future robotic equipment, "which takes up a lot of space," said Spillers, who is now in charge of eight hospitals with a couple thousand beds in North Alabama.

Madison Hospital staff members will wear color-coded uniforms so patients will know their caregivers' position, said Wright.

The floors, which are wood-tone in color, help reduce noise, said Pam Sparks, manager of media and public relations with Huntsville Hospital.

Two-way "pass-throughs" are in every room, which will cut down on staff members entering patients' rooms several times during their shift. Trash cans can be retrieved by opening a door from the hallway as well as dirty linens and food trays.

Security is at a premium in the nursery area, which can accommodate up to 19 babies at one time. If an unauthorized person tries to leave the room with a baby, everything, including elevators and doors, will shut down or lock until it can be determined everyone is safe.

"The culture is very different in a small hospital," said Wright. "You have to do everything. Nurses will be drawing blood and doing other things. At Huntsville Hospital, things are so specialized, but here you have fewer people doing more things. All the staff will be cross-trained to do everything."

When a patient checks into the hospital, family members will be given a code and the patient's progress, from admitting to being placed into a room, will be listed on a board, enabling relatives to know exactly where their loved one is at any time.

While planning the hospital, Wright and Spillers visited several other hospitals, including ones in Florida and North Carolina, and "tried to take the best of all, and I think we did."